Alexandria is a 5-year-old student at Luzerne County Head Start’s Tunkhannock center who is headed to kindergarten in the fall. This is her second year in the Head Start program. Her family worker, Julianne Pettit or “Miss Julie,” says Alexandria loves to help her classmates.

“Alexandria is full of heart, and always has a smile on her face.”

The 5-year-old girl lives with her grandmother, who recently experienced some hardships that put the family in a state of homelessness. Miss Julie learned about Project Donate Joy (or DJ) from Luzerne County Head Start’s family engagement team. The group provides handmade quilts for children. Each quilt is crafted with unique material, so no two are alike.

Without reliable transportation and a temporary housing situation, Miss Julie thought the personalized blanket would be the perfect sentiment for Alexandria. The volunteers from Project DJ put together a special blanket for Alexandria and Miss Julie brought the blanket to her. Miss Julie says the little girl was so thankful and loves her new blanket.

“Alexandria has a lot of people who love and care for her.”

Alexandria enjoys spending time with her mother, father, baby brother and 8-year-old sister, Izabella, who was also a former LCHS student. Miss Julie recently helped Alexandria’s mother find a high chair for her baby brother and says she does whatever she can to make sure Alexandria and her family have everything they need.

“We are here for Alexandria, and her family. They really appreciate the help that we provide to them.”

Click HERE to get to the website to place your order for free at-home COVID-19 test kits.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Residential households in the U.S. can order one set of 4 free at-home tests from USPS.com.

• Limit of one order per residential address

• One order includes 4 individual rapid antigen COVID-19 tests

• Orders will ship free starting in late January

The Wright Center for Community Health will park its “Driving Better Health” van in the side parking lot of Luzerne County Head Start’s central office building, 23 Beekman St., Wilkes-Barre on Mon., Dec. 6 from 11am to 3pm.

They will offer childhood and adult immunizations, flu vaccines and COVID-19 vaccines for adults and children, age five and older.

Child immunization records and insurance cards, if available, should be presented.

Children without insurance will still be able to receive immunizations at no cost.

One of the significant benefits of early childhood education is that it builds a love of learning that lasts well beyond the preschool years.  Amber Grohowski, a 2016 graduate of Nanticoke Area High School, and former Luzerne County Head Start student, is a testament to the success of what early learning programs can do for young children in school and later in life. 

The young woman from Nanticoke recently landed a job in the medical field at UPMC in Williamsport.  Amber graduated from Wilkes University earlier this year, where she received her Bachelor of Science degree in Neuroscience.  Following graduation, she enrolled in Bloomsburg University’s Intraoperative Neurophysiologic Monitoring Program.  The certification helped to prepare her for her career as a surgical neurophysiologist.

“Neuroscience pulled together the best of both worlds for me; a lot of psychology with some biology, too.  I developed a passion for everything I was learning about.  I felt like I could use a lot of it in my own life.  For example, different parenting styles: authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, neglectful and the type of personality children growing up in those situations are likely to develop.”

Amber’s role as a surgical neurophysiologist puts her in the operating room, where she monitors patients’ nervous systems for possible adverse reactions while undergoing surgery.  Surgical neurophysiologists use tools like needle and sticky pad electrodes to help them observe problems that may arise during surgery.  The surgical neurophysiologist then works with the surgeon to let them know what the patient is experiencing in order to help reduce the risk of postoperative deficits.

Amber credits much of her success to her beginning at Head Start and the support she received from her family.

“My parents mean the world to me and having them by my side during my childhood helped shape me into the person I am today.”

Amber’s mother, Diane Grohowski, said the structure Head Start provided coincides with Amber’s success in her personal life. 

“I think the play-based learning method Head Start follows propelled Amber to be involved in school.  Even as an adult, I think that model helps her to solve problems and get along with others.”

Diane said at times she and her husband faced financial hardships, but she was thankful Head Start was there to help them.

“I stayed home with my children for eight years and my husband didn’t have a great paying job.  One year for Christmas, Head Start put tags on their giving tree.  Amber was adopted by a business office and the employees collected four big bags of gifts for her.  It was such an incredible and unimaginable gesture.  The whole Head Start experience was positive – it really helped tie everything together for us.”

During her senior year in high school, Amber learned from her guidance counselor at Greater Nanticoke Area High School about Luzerne County Head Start’s alumni scholarship program.  Each year, the program honors the achievements of former Head Start students graduating from high school and continuing their education.  Recipients are chosen based on academic performance, personal achievements, leadership, motivation and school and community involvement. 

Amber said, “I knew tuition was going to be costly, so I wanted to apply for a scholarship that I would be able to easily relate with.  Head Start is where it all began for me, so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.”

Head Start alumni scholarships are supported entirely by community organizations, businesses, and individuals like Gary Williams of Shavertown.  In 2012, Mr. Williams, who serves as treasurer on the Luzerne County Head Start Board of Directors, established The Fran Williams Memorial Scholarship in memory of his late wife, who liked to give to those in need of a little extra help.  Each year the recipient of this scholarship receives $4,000, which is spread out over a student’s first two years of post-secondary education. 

Amber was the 2016 recipient of The Fran Williams Memorial Scholarship.  She says that “little extra” the scholarship provided helped her to get the college experience she wanted.  As a token of her appreciation, Amber invited Gary to attend her graduation ceremony at Wilkes.  He was grateful to attend. 

“I was surprised and honored for this invitation.  I attended the ceremony and met Amber and her family and learned that she is now employed by UPMC and using her degree to monitor patients’ nervous systems for possible adverse reactions while undergoing surgery.  What a great success story and excellent example of what supporting scholarships can mean to a young person who has successfully finished high school and is seeking a college education.”

Amber’s mother, Diane, is proud of how far her daughter has come since her early beginnings. 

“I am pleased that Amber can sustain her own lifestyle – she pays all of her bills, drives a new car, rents a nice townhome and has a great job.  I am proud of how far she has come and so thankful for the help we had along the way.”

When she isn’t at work, Amber enjoys spending time with her two cats, Morris and Fireball, and is working to master her baking skills.  She also likes to travel back home to Nanticoke on the weekends to visit with her parents.  Amber says a quote she lives by is, “Be the reason someone believes in the goodness of people.” 

From 1987 through 2021, scholarships totaling $293,250 have been awarded to outstanding students, like Amber, who began their educational journey at Head Start.  Scholarship applications for former Head Start students who will graduate in June of 2022 are now available. The deadline for submission is January 28, 2022. 

Businesses, organizations or individuals in the community who are interested in sponsoring a scholarship for a high school senior should contact Lindsey Fredericks, community advocate, Luzerne County Head Start, by emailing lindseyf@hsweb.org, or calling 570-829-6231.

Posted by: Lindsey Fredericks

Luzerne County Head Start, Inc. is conducting its 36^th annual merit-based, competitive scholarship program for former Head Start students graduating from high school in June of 2022 and continuing their education. To date, the LCHS Alumni Scholarship Program has awarded 306 scholarships totaling $293,250.

In order to qualify, applicants must be graduating high school seniors who plan to pursue a post-secondary education and they must be able to show proof of enrollment in any Head Start program. The scholarships are provided through private sponsors including local businesses, charitable foundations and other community organizations.

To download the application, click HERE. All applications should be filled out and e-mailed to lchsscholarship@hsweb.org or mailed to Luzerne County Head Start, Inc., 23 Beekman St., Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702, Attn: Lindsey Fredericks, community advocate. For more information, contact Lindsey Fredericks, community advocate, Luzerne County Head Start, Inc., 570-829-6231 or email lindseyf@hsweb.org.

PLEASE NOTE: All applications in their entirety must be submitted by 4pm on Friday, January 28, 2022 in order to be considered.

Employees from the Greater Wyoming Valley Chamber of Commerce volunteered at Luzerne County Head Start, Inc. (LCHS) as part of the United Way of Wyoming Valley’s 29^th annual “Day of Caring.” 

The “Day of Caring” is when representatives from several businesses and organizations across the community join other private citizens to come together as volunteers, roll up their sleeves, and set to work helping nonprofit and charitable organizations throughout the Wyoming Valley. 

This year, nine volunteers from The Chamber of Commerce, including LCHS’s Board of Directors member, Ahmad Ali, completed outdoor projects including washing windows, raking leaves and plating flowers at LCHS’s central office building in Wilkes-Barre. 

LCHS would like to all those who participated in this volunteer effort.

Luzerne County Head Start, Inc. will provide its summer learning experience to upcoming Head Start children in the summer of 2022, thanks to a golf tournament sponsored by Navient, a loan management, servicing and asset recovery company. 

The annual event held at Blue Ridge Trail Golf Club in Mountain Top raised approximately $25,000 for LCHS’s Jump Start program.  The program is a 4-week-long summer learning experience that offers comprehensive services for 30 eligible 3 and 4-year-old children who will attend LCHS in the fall. 

This year marked the 15^th year for the tournament that supports early learning experiences for children.  In addition to the tournament, several businesses provided sponsorship and gift donations for raffle drawings and other prizes. 

The Navient Community Fund also awarded an $8,000 grant to help support the program. 

Luzerne County Head Start (LCHS) received dozens of back to school supplies for children thanks to a school supply drive hosted by employees at Core Mark, Wilkes-Barre and CVS Caremark, Hanover Twp.  Both businesses participate in the agency’s Adopt-A-Classroom program.

The program is designed to promote community engagement and strengthen the bond between community leaders and Head Start children. Volunteers from businesses that adopt classrooms at LCHS read stories, sponsor classroom activities, participate in classroom celebrations, and donate classroom supplies. 

Over the course of several weeks, staff at Core Mark and CVS Caremark collected notebooks, markers, crayons, pencils, scissors, classroom activity books and more.  The supplies were boxed up and delivered to Luzerne County Head Start’s Beekman Street center. 

The items will help ensure children from low-income families who attend Luzerne County Head Start will start the school year with everything they need to be successful at the start of the new school year. 

The first day of the new program year at Luzerne County Head Start was Monday, August 31.

To apply for a classroom aide position, please CLICK HERE.

LCHS recently held its first of four summer farmers markets at its Beekman Street location in Wilkes-Barre.  The markets are made possible by a “Farm to Early Childhood Education” grant secured through the Pennsylvania Head Start Association.  The market is open to Head Start and Early Head Start families at LCHS’s Wilkes-Barre/Beekman Street center who are participating in summer services.  Fresh fruits and vegetables from Rowland’s Pennsylvania Produce, Falls, were provided to families free of charge.  

The remaining markets will be held on July 14, 21 and 28 from 12:15pm-1:15pm at LCHS’s Beekman Street location, weather permitting.  Several community agencies will be available to provide information about services available to Head Start/Early Head Start families.      

Farm to ECE is a group of activities and strategies that offers increased access to healthy, local foods, gardening opportunities and food-based learning activities.  The funding is meant to increase early learning programs’ ability to implement farm to ECE strategies that help meet the needs of children and families during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.     

WHAT: Luzerne County Head Start Hosts Summer Farmers Markets

WHO: Head Start/Early Head Start families at Beekman St., Wilkes-Barre center

WHEN: Wednesdays in July (14, 21, 28) from 12:15PM-1:15PM

WHERE: 23 Beekman St., Wilkes-Barre (parking lot area)

WHY: Expand access to fresh local produce for Head Start & Early Head Start families